Wednesday, February 21, 2007

I sometimes wonder if I don't take sailing seriously enough. I know some readers of this blog become frustrated when I veer off-course into flights of fancy about urine tests or church signs. The number of posts already labelled Utter Nonsense is a testament to this weakness of mine.

But then I came across this post Carrot Fibre Yachts on the official blog of the America's Cup Challenger Commission.

Hmmm, maybe I'm not so different from these elite sailors after all. Seems like we can all take our sport seriously and laugh about it occasionally too.

I think the original story about the fibers from carrots is real. All of the other sailing stuff is just utter nonsense written by guys in Valencia with too much time on their hands. Whatever next? Wings on keels?

I haven't played with carrots. But I have always been impressed with mashed potatoes. Mix a little of epoxy in with mashed potatoes and you are on to something!! Carbohydrates, starches... are simply polymers... It is so crazy, it just might work!!

I plan one day to build a boat out of a composite of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, in which the unidirectional cellulose microfibrils will constitute the reinforcing elements in the matrix blend of hemicellulose and lignin. The structure will be built as a multi-ply construction with layers of cellulose microfibrils at different angles to the fiber axis.

I wonder if your eyesight improves when you're sailing one of these things ... and are the hulls naturally orange? By the way, I’m a fellow cruiser and I thought you might be interested in my blog too. My wife and I are sailing to the Caribbean in our hand-built 34-ft. strip-planked gaff-rigged ketch (absolutely no carrots involved). We began our journey in Gig Harbor, Washington, and just ventured through the Panama Canal. Our third transit through the canal was as exciting as the first. It’s an amazing opportunity to experience it. We’re keeping our friends and family updated on our voyage and adventures along the way with our Web site and blog. Check it out at www.brucesmithsvoyage.com.

(Posted by Mike Bernstein of Bahama Breeze for Bruce and Jan Smith, who are currently at Latitude 9.35 north and Longitude 79.42 west.)

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